They already spent all the money on winning the election. Now have to raise taxes

Easy. Toyota can't offer the Prius at the tax free price. If they would do it, they may as well stop selling their other cars. And since they probably have a hard time churning out enough Priuses... I think if they are forced to sell it at a lower profit, they would rather not import it. Doesn't make sense for them. That Audi actually did it is mind blowing, I'm not sure what they were smoking, but I think I'd like to try that shit. But their cars are priced further apart, so there is more wiggle room. Toyota and Honda don't have that.

Basing the taxes on how safe, efficient and clean the car is would make more sense, with hybrids getting the biggest tax cuts, while other models would also get tax cuts. Not having fuel subsidies instead would make the most sense.

Though actually, that would be against my interest. I don't want to change my car, and it's a thirsty car.

The Prius C is 20k above the Vios, the Prius something like 20k or so above the Altis? That the better equipped hybrid is more expensive than the regular car is acceptable.

Also, I don't think Honda's hybrids are quite as good as Toyota's.

@mystvearn:
The governments in Europe usually doesn't raise petrol prices, the petrol prices go up as the crude oil prices go up. There may be tax hikes once in a while, but usually it is just because oil is getting more expensive. We don't feel those increasing prices because the government is subsidizing petrol depending on how much it costs.

I believe car parts are taxed more than those 20% here... car parts tend to be much cheaper in Europe (despite the high taxes) than they are in Malaysia. Labour though is indeed very expensive. Here it is maybe 80-90% for the parts, rest is labour. There it is 30% for the parts, rest is labour.

Yes, if car prices would go down so would the length of loans. Usually 3 years is the most, maybe 5 years you can get in Europe (AFAIK). So while you may have to spend less on a car you'll have to pay it off faster. But IMHO that's fine. People who still want it can save money first before buying the car (which is more sensible IMHO).

Germany is also doing fine by forcing those bailed out countries to buy their products. Why, during the crisis, did Greek have to buy the war ships it had ordered from Germany earlier? What does it need them for? They need to save money, right? Yet Germany forced them to buy and pay for these ships...

As for the healthcare sector I believe a big part of it is that it belongs to the government, which can run it non-profit. (Not sure if it is done that way, but surely less for-profit than Europe or worse yet the US). In the US a big part of the costs is insurance for doctors in case they screw up and get sued. Medicine is expensive because the pharmaceutical companies can charge as much as they want to. If the government is strong enough it can force them to charge lower prices or even copy medicine. The latter happened in India recently.

Anyway, I think it would be best for people if CERTAIN cars are made more affordable. By that I mean safe B segment cars and maybe safe MPVs, also a requirement are not so good performance but good fuel consumption. Basically if it is a luxury thing, pay for it. If it is necessary to get you safe to work, bring your family around safely, then it should be affordable. Petrol prices will have to rise accordingly, though maybe with less corruption that effect may not be so strong.

Wow. And I thought my postings were long.

As for traffic jams... As long as there are not more people there to drive the cars there won't be more traffic jams, only newer cars as old cars are finally scrapped (some really need to be removed from the roads...).

Taxes only need to go down for sensible cars. You want luxury, fun etc. please pay for it. No need to make a big BMW cheaper. Even powerful versions of a car (say B segment over 100 HP) should be taxed higher.

One problem right now in Malaysia is the crappy cars in awful condition on our roads.

Because they also profit from the country having money to spend on better infrastructure, better education, etc. So those who can manage to pay more should pay more, IMHO (all within reasonable limits). Also, higher taxes for luxury items/cars is IMHO acceptable. Again, within reasonable limits. S class leave at 100% tax, and below that gradually reduce. Something like that. The government doesn't need to help rich people build a collection of supercars.

Shorter loans are desirable, as people should have more financial certainty. With lower taxes for reasonable cars I expect those really crappy cars to disappear from Malaysian roads. Cars that polute like no tomorrow, that are dangerous at any speed. Other than that people will be able to drive better cars, especially at the low end of the market.

Singapore needs to limit the number of cars on the road... that should be the main reason for the high car prices (after all the right to buy a car is auctioned off, and there is a limited number of licenses). Makes sense on such a small island, but Malaysia has the space. Only KL suffers from the number of cars, so once there is a decent and safe to use public transport system a congestion charge should be a good thing. Maybe give free car parks to people who do car pooling, or next to public transport hubs so that people from outside can drive there, and then switch to public transport.

Actually AFAIK red numberplate can be used between 7am and 7pm, but you'll have to pay for it.

I beg to disagree with laptops and computer parts. Go for a cheap power supply, and your computer may die soon, or it will be unstable.

Or my laptop... I bought a Dell. A bit more expensive than a similarly speced Acer, and I topped up a bit for extended warranty. What can I say... It is still working after 5 years, where my friends had to replace their Acer after 2-3 years.

It's not so easy... With CE and IT I would invest in good quality and not just look at specs.

For contis the FL can be a significant upgrade, with new engines, new features, ... while sometimes the exterior remains unchanged.

Also for some reason new tech doesn't trickle down to ASEAN Japanese cars...

I disagree with Japanese cars being over engineered. Germans probably are more over engineered. Look at the video of a sales man jumping on the open door of a Golf, rocking the car. And after that it is still like new and closes perfectly. Also they so an incredible amount of testing on their cars, under extreme conditions.

Japanese cars were over engineered perhaps, but now they seem to rely more on reputation and old tech.

Contis usually don't skip on their safety features, though they may otherwise be a bit empty. Those things are optional then. Several A and B segment cars now have city brake... A system that stops the car if sensors detect an obstacle in front and it becomes necessary to avoid a crash. And those are very affordable cars that may come without air con.

Also some of these new features that come as standard With the FL aren't available as an option before. I think what you described is more common with Japanese cars.

I see.

The new Fiesta FL does offer laser guided auto braking, which I believe wasn't available as an option on the previous model. 5 of the 10 engines offered are new (the most frugal one does 3.3l/100 km ). Germany now also gets PowerShift (the previous Fiesta had a torque converter, if they even offered an auto version). The 125 hp version (which we will probably be getting) does nearly 200 km/h... and it's the most frugal petrol they offer. They fine tuned suspension and steering, should be even better now. It has voice control now, and you can set up a key for your kid that will only let them turn on the radio once everyone is wearing the seatbelt, and limit the top speed or the volume of the radio. They even managed to lower the price overseas... but I doubt it will be cheaper here. (The price for the 125 hp engine with DSG should be nearly 80k overseas... and that's without all the extras.)
Anyway, I think that's not too bad for a facelift.

Before a German car (including Ford) is released they do a ton of torture tests though to find flaws. Of course not all are found, but they put in quite some effort.

As for tax free, I think the only way they can pull that off is by stopping corruption. So BN won't be doing it, PR might have been able to do so, but who knows. Maybe they would have been led to the dark side as well.

The thing with the petrol price is that I drive without regard for the fuel consumption, and I guess others do so as well. While that is fun I realize it is not good for the environment, and also not good for our health (more polution by higher FC and the use of old cars that polute a lot, since people can't afford to replace them with newer cars). Also, it would be good if people shift to more frugal cars. Those become more valuable as petrol prices go up. It could be the real price, without subsidies, but also without taxes.

Haha, but what if you buy a Maybach that is electronically limited to 0-100 in 8s? (Car makers may do so...) Low tax then? I think the car price is a good indicator. Cars below 50k have the lowest tax rate, 100k is still very low, 150k gets higher, 200k will be higher yet, 300k will be high and above that you'll bleed. Basically if you are rich enough for a luxury item, then please pay for it. Also, penalities are given for cars without ESP or with less than 6 airbags (the fewer, the higher the penalities). That way car makers can't save money/increase profits by offering less safe cars. Likewise, the ASEAN NCAP rating (if it also does side and pole impacts) can be used to determine the tax. 5 star is tax free, 4 star = +5%, 3 star +10%, ...

This post has been edited by kadajawi: May 9 2013, 01:36 PM

While it would be a shame to see those 120Y disappear... I do think in this case they may be able to afford newer cars. Either since affordable cars get cheaper (government can allow them to get long term loans, give them money to replace their old cars, ...), or since second hand cars get cheaper. Then they may be driving a second hand Saga BLM etc.

Also, at least in Germany not every old car can apply. It has to be in good and ORIGINAL condition. Aftermarket parts, unless they were available back then, won't work. Basically you have to show that it's a classic worth preserving, perhaps even brought to classic car shows, classic car rallying etc. (It may not be that strict, but you get the drift).

I disagree. NCAP results take into account that small cars are less safe than big ones. It is meant to compare cars within each class, so that people can base their buying decision on that. Also, the Fiesta shows that safe cars can be made for 80k (and that is AFTER the big taxes). The Preve CFE, if it had 2 more airbags, is a safe C segment car that can sell for around 70k, despite high taxes. Drop those taxes and who knows, the Preve could be around 40-50k? A 5 star C segment ANCAP car. Relatively safe cars need not be expensive. Most B segment cars have a 5 star rating, many A segment cars too.
Making the tax dependent on the baseline specs is interesting, though IMHO not necessary. Because of the high taxes on a car with less than 6 airbags, the car becomes more affordable if it has those 6 airbags (the rest can be baseline spec). Since car taxes are very high now, car prices would not go up if this were put into place. At most it may stay at the same level for dangerous cars, while safe ones get cheaper.

As for safety, I think at least some Malaysians care about safety, but they think a crash at "low" speeds, like 60 km/h, is not dangerous. The media is needed to educate people that is NOT the case. One could build public demonstration trucks that have a car interior on rails which abruptly stop, simulating a crash. Then put mannequins and simulate a crash at 30 km/h (which can be deadly already!). Tour around the country with that, and show it on TV too. Show the negative effects of airbags when passengers don't wear seatbelts. In Europe too people didn't want to wear them, until campaigns were done to educate them. Just look at the TV spots from the UK, which look like Tarantino's Death Proof.

I don't see those small luxury cars doing well in Malaysia (though I don't visit KL often). Size matters here.

Btw., nope, I'm not surprised by people giving way to big/fast looking cars. In Germany we even have a word for that... "Überholprestige" (21000 results on Google). It "measures" how likely it is that others will give way if you drive on the highway. The owner of a slightly tuned Opel Corsa A (B segment car from the early 80s, so really rather small) complained about others never giving way or pulling into his lane on the highway... despite the fact that his car will easily do 350+ km/h. That's probably also why especially German cars look super agressive from the front these days. The Mazda MX-3 seems to have been a car with good "Überholprestige", though it is not that fast. But it looks fast.

To be honest when I'm on the highway in my Kangoo people do give way, though I sometimes do have to flash my high beam. IIRC it wasn't so before I had DRL... Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking, though I'm not driving fast, only around 130...

I'm in favour of a combination. Base tax is 0%. If a car has a 4 star rating, +5%. 3 star +10%. CO2 above 120 whatever the unit is, +5%, above 200 +5%... something like that. Car price above 50k 5%, above 100k 10%, ... etc. Maybe not as rough.

As for Iskandar... I'm fine when foreigners come and bring in money. After all that's what the country can need. But I think those places are probably bought more as an investment... which again, is fine, cause once the market has collapsed we can get a nice house and move there What I find bad is that houses in general have become ridiculously expensive. That's plain wrong.

As for Goldman... I don't think it is ever a good idea doing any kind of business with them. They don't intend to serve their customers, they intend to serve their bonuses.

GST doesn't only take from the poor, it also takes from the rich. While those aids are (hopefully) just going to those in need. It always depends, I'm used to a 16 and then 19% GST... as long as there is something to balance out the losses due to that it's fine. But yes, it would mostly screw the middle class.

As for fuel they have to fill up with 97 though, so at least it is not subsidized.

Yes, they can live like millionaires, but then they are robbed.

It depends on if the poor feel it the most... if the government gives them handouts to balance it out, it will be the middle class who suffer the most.

But we are kind of off-topic...

The Fiesta with 120 HP and DSG is around 20k Euro in Germany, with the lowest specs possible. Our Fiesta is higher spec and costs about the same. Admittedly 20k/80k is list price, you can expect around 20% discount. But similar prices.

However you CAN get a Fiesta for maybe 50k, other B segmenters too, but then it will be empty (maybe not even central locking or aircon) and has 60 HP.

There is another occasional poster who writes excellent stuff, but his name currently eludes me.

At university in Germany RM 1500 was enough for one month. Just. But that's as student, so you get a ton of discounts, free public transport, cheaper food (usually 3 to 4 times as expensive), no car, cheap accommodation with free 100 Mbit internet. It would be impossible to even survive on this little.

AFAIK the car with the most legroom is the Skoda Superb. But it might be a bit excessive.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: May 11 2013, 12:12 AM

A big problem with Greece was an insane amount of corruption and bad politicians who only cared about their own pockets. There is a German saying... After me the floods (as in the Biblical one that erased almost all life on earth). Meaning I don't care what happens once I have left office/am dead.

Basically Greece has money, but it is on the foreign bank accounts of a few croonies etc. People who also refused to pay taxes etc.

This post has been edited by kadajawi: May 11 2013, 04:38 PM

@BravoZeroTwo: As I mentioned, the Skoda Superb offers the most space below 200k. Otherwise Polo Sedan and Almera offer a lot of legroom AFAIK (in the B segment, if you need to stay below 100k). Depends on what you need, really. Also, in the Alza you can push back the 2nd row, so maybe then it has enough space?

As in pickups? Isn't the priority there to offer as much space at the back (on the bed) as possible?

Price for expensive cars will go down a bit. Woohooo...

You won't be able to afford a 100k car when you can just afford a 100k car with a 9 year loan now. Maybe then loans will only have a max of 3 years, perhaps 5.